


an offer i could definitely refuse.

by Markmeinyourheart



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, Literature, M/M, Missing Persons, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Qian Kun-centric, Slow Burn, im so sorry xiaojun, kun is very very smart, kuntenyang are very cool sleuths, people are not very nice to ten :((((, preppy kids, ten is so cool
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29687013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Markmeinyourheart/pseuds/Markmeinyourheart
Summary: Kun had heard stories about Ravenwood Academy. None of them were bad - more or less he had heard about their soaring graduation rate, advanced seminars and faculty and building enriched with history. He was enamoured with the place since he was a child. Kun had longed to enrol at Ravenwood since he was a child, however his family was among the less fortunate and stepping through the doors of the academy was nothing but a distant dream.Until today.orQian Kun is accepted into a prestigious boarding school on a scholarship and gradually discovers the school's deep, dark history and macabre traditions alongside meticulous recluse Ten Lee and rambunctious sophomore Liu Yanyang.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24





	an offer i could definitely refuse.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii :D
> 
> This is a fic i'm not so sure i like as much as the others so...  
> I came up with this while watching riverdale so bear with me.  
> This is also the first chaptered fic ive done in a while :/

Kun had heard stories about Ravenwood Academy. None of them were bad - more or less he had heard about their soaring graduation rate, advanced seminars and faculty and building enriched with history. He was enamoured with the place since he was a child. Kun had longed to enrol at Ravenwood since he was a child, however his family was among the less fortunate and stepping through the doors of the academy was nothing but a distant dream. 

Until today.

There it was, in all its glory; the school he had waited almost eight years to attend. Edwardian architecture standing intimidatingly before him, oozing with history and intelligence. Kun still couldn't believe he got this opportunity: being the brightest student in his old public school with the highest gpa and a lifelong passion for literature, he dominated his classes filled with jocks that would scrunch up the syllabus and toss it at him. Long gone were those days, he was surrounded with people like him now. 

Wandering the halls felt ominous to Kun; his footsteps echoed when his heels clacked against the wood, the silence wound around him like a mist and there was virtually no one else meandering around (though that may be because it's early in the morning). He bore his eyes into the doors, lighting up as he found the mahogany of his correct dorm room.

Taking a deep breath in, Kun clutched the doorknob and pushed it open to find half of his dorm room occupied by a boy lounged on one of the beds reading a comic. Upon the creak of the door, the boy before Kun looked up from his comic with a charming smile, 

"Hey, I'm Jaehyun. You're Qian Kun, right?"

Jaehyun was undeniably beautiful, radiating a delightfully boyish charm. His blazer was rumpled and his tie was slightly loosened from it's tight grip on his throat, plus, his smile made knees  _ weaken _ . Kun was enamoured but nodded mindlessly anyway.

"Y-Yeah, I'm Kun." Jaehyun chuckled and let his head fall to the side. He tossed his comic onto the sheets and sat up straight. He stood up and grabbed one of Kun's suitcases with ease. Kun's brain was on the verge of exploding.

"So, you've just got here?" Jaehyun leaned over to look at the other and he nodded, "Makes sense, I've been all alone in here for some time now. It's cool I finally have a roommate."

Kun smiled at his roommate before pulling out his heaving pile of books. Kun loved literature. Not a day goes by where he isn't nose-deep in a Dorothy Sayers classic or even writing a piece of his own. His bookshelves were crammed with mysteries, horrors and thrillers alike - every page transported him to a new world with a new mystery to solve. He considered himself intelligent enough to solve these mysteries without a sneak peek at the back page or a shocking plot twist. With the help of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson, Kun felt like a detective when faced with action; he could read anyone and everyone. 

"Dang, dude, that's a shit ton of books! I assume you're taking Mr Lee's mystery literature and language seminar?" Jaehyun snuck up behind Kun and hooked his head on his shoulder playfully. _ Jaehyun sure is touchy with people he's just met _ , Kun thought as he pushed his last book into his bookcase. 

"Oh, I am!" Kun's grin widened, "I've been dreaming of this school since I was, like, ten. I came here on scholarship."

The other boy fell silent for a second, face evening like a blank slate, before realising Kun was staring at him and his charming smile painted itself once again, "No way, so did my baby brother Sungchan!" 

Kun turned back to his suitcase and pondered for a second. What happened to Jaehyun back there? His face had suddenly wiped itself of all emotion, like his brain had momentarily shut down. 

“Okay so, I should probably give a word of warning about the other students in the hall: Lucas Wong bunks next door and he can be...loud. Him and his roommate are on the basketball team and they practice shooting hoops at the wall in the middle of the night.” Jaehyun leaned against the wall and knocked it, “Then there’s Mark Lee on the other side. He’s a major overachiever and he stays up until morning studying so he gets cranky in the morning; do  _ not _ talk to him when he wakes up.”

Suddenly, an ear-piercing bell rattled against the wall, leading a stampede of students to erupt within the halls. 

"So... I've gotta hit calculus, see you later, Kun!" Jaehyun bounded out from their dorm like nothing had just happened. Weird. 

Kun was beginning to question whether his roommate was as calm and collected as he portrayed himself.

\---

For such a promoted seminar within Ravenwood Academy, the literature and language seminar class was small. 

The classroom looked way too sophisticated to teach a bunch of stuck-up high schoolers - polished mahogany furniture, stained glass windows and intricately decorated carpeting with a circle of chairs set in the middle of the room before a chunky desk littered with papers and stationary. 

Kun was the first one there, at least he had presumed. He hugged his books tighter into his chest and took a seat at one of the tables, throwing his head back and admiring the lace ceiling texture before a reverberating creak drew in Kun’s attention. 

It was only one person. A boy. A boy with long black curtains shading his face from Kun’s view and a sloppily painted black binder shielding his test. His posture was poor; it was hunched over like he was exhausted unlike the pristine, straight posture of all the other students he’s noticed. Kun was enamoured by his aura, it was so mysterious and attractive like a siren. The boy sat down on the opposite chair to Kun and avoided his gaze unconsciously. 

Kun stared at the spines of the books stuffed in his binder. Lovecraft and Christie. 

Then, as if the world was trying to draw Kun away from the boy, the door swung open to reveal three more students strolling towards the circle of chairs. One was so enthusiastic he almost tripped, the other borderline dragging himself by his feet and the last one strolling in like he owned the place. Right up to Kun.

“You’re sitting in my seat.” The boy was fairly short with neatly placed chestnut hair. He exuded power, sovereignty. Arms folded, head tilted, it was like he was looking  _ down _ on Kun - how much audacity does this boy have?

Shrugging, Kun stared the boy in the eye, “I wasn’t told about any seat allocations.”

“Now you’ve been told, move.” Oh, how persistent he was. The boy cocked his hip and tapped his foot exasperatedly. 

Kun saw some sort of building fire in the other’s eyes and leaned back in the mahogany, “There’s literally another chair right there.”

“I don’t care. I-”

The soft click of the door shutting interrupted the boy’s potential dramatic monologue. A man in a sophisticated tweed jacket gently stepped into the room, glasses perched on his nose. Upon the sight of the two boys, his face fell from a delicate smile to a pointed stare.

“Dejun, we’ve talked about that chair. There’s a seat over here, just come sit so I can begin.”

On the inside, watching Dejun’s face contort incredulously made Kun double over in laughter, but for the sake of his social life and his face he hid his amusement behind a stone face. Huffing with a bratty groan, Dejun stormed into the empty seat with a throbbing stink eye thrown in Kun’s direction. 

\---

The seminar had lasted about half an hour now and it had become beyond unbearable. Dejun’s eyes were boring holes into Kun’s skin and the older boy could definitely feel the stinging burn. Mr Lee was a gentle teacher, poetic and avante-garde in the way he spoke about each page inked onto the crisp pages of his book. Many of the kids were nodding in some sort of trance when he spoke, though Kun had expected half of them were just enchanted by the big words he was spouting (though that could be his unconscious reaction from his old school).

He took the duration of the seminar to analyse each classmate; Dejun’s back was straight and his hands were folded into his lap over his thick pile of books - he was confident, maybe a little too much. Lucas was hunched over with his forearms resting on his thighs - he was a sucker for storytelling. Sicheng had his legs folded over the other, head tilted in intrigue - he was curious and intent on listening. But he was transfixed on one person for so long, someone who truly presented themself as an enigma.

Black curtains boy.

His name was Ten, and his curtains dangled in front of his face as he lowered his head towards his book with his attention zeroed in on the Murder on the Orient Express. He didn’t look like he was listening to Mr Lee at all - but he seemed to know the answer to everything. Ten looked like he had his own little bubble; he was poetry personified. 

“So, the ending to An Inspector Calls is notorious for its ambiguity, where the Inspector is revealed to not be the official inspector - or a real person - and the play comes to a full circle and begins all over again. So, everyone… what is the Inspector? Any guesses?” Mr Lee leaned back in his chair, awaiting answers from the circle of students before him.

Dejun sat up impossibly straighter and took in a deep breathe for his self-assured answer, “He’s a ghost. It’s obvious. He’s literally called Inspector Goole and the wordplay is evident that he’s a supernatural creature of some sort. He avenges the dead - he’s a ghost.”

The others around him nodded in agreement, a few hums dancing through the air, Dejun smiled like he expected the verbal applause. Kun doesn’t know why it ignites an angry fire in the pit of his stomach, but it does regardless.

“Well, that’s certainly the most popular speculation, Dejun. Anyone else want to give their input?” Mr Lee gave a silent applause towards the boy basking in the attention. After his question, it lingered in the air with a pregnant pause.

“He was nothing.”

An ocean of eyes tailed onto a mop of black curtains that framed a beautiful face. Ten had looked up from his book to breathe his words into the air, jumbling with the other words dancing through the room during the awkward pause.

“Oh?” Mr Lee replied, “Care to elaborate, Ten?”

“Inspector Goole was never a visible, identifiable being, supernatural or not. He was nothing if you were to speak generally. The book is a social commentary on the British class divide and it’s intersection with gender and rape culture - the Inspector was a character used to highlight the lack in self-awareness of the upper class and guilt them into recognisig their participation in capitalism. The Inspector was their conscience - a characterisation of the Birlings’ conscience and moral compass to lead the main narrative of the play.” Ten was undoubtedly correct in some sense - he had been paying attention the whole time. Kun was bewitched by Ten’s soft voice with a hint of an English accent, no presence of cockiness or superiority as he stated his input.

Dejun was - to say the least - agitated beyond definition. It looked like he wasn’t used to being proven wrong. If he wasn’t in a room of five other people right now, Kun would at least crack a smile. However, Lucas and Sicheng were eyeing Ten too. Like he was some sort of monster. 

“W-Wow… you can quite possibly be correct there, Ten. Great job. Any other ideas?” Mr Lee was taken aback at the length and complexity of what he had just heard, flicking back and forth through the book to look for any objections to Ten’s theory. 

Kun swore he could pinpoint the shadow of a blush on Ten’s face before he saw the black-haired boy look back down to his pages again. Kun saw Ten as an enigma,

And it only pulled him in further.

\---

After the session ended and the students plus Mr Lee had fled the classroom, Kun noticed Ten had stayed behind. Not collecting his bags or doing extra work. Just reading. Like he was indeed in his little universe.  _ Cute _ , Kun thought.

Gingerly, Kun stepped forward towards Ten, tentatively trying not to pop Ten’s bubble, “Hey there. I’m Qian Kun, I thought your analysis of the book was really, really insightful.”

Perplexed, Ten looked up, curtains wagging at the physics. At Kun’s words, Ten’s eyes lit up with a sweet grin and the older was about to melt into jelly.

“O-Oh, thank you. You’re new here righ…” As quick as it grew, Ten’s joyous smile had withered with his gaze focused past Kun. The sparkle in his eyes dimmed and splashed with some sort of emotion; suspicion? Realization? Fear? 

Suddenly, Ten had started to gather his bags frantically, moving to run out of the room with no glances spared at Kun for even a second. 

It happened so fast that Kun didn’t even realise that the door had slammed. His entire first day had unfolded to be peculiar rather than a dream come true. A roommate hiding some sort of underlying secret, a potential new enemy and a cute enigma already playing with his dead.

This definitely wasn’t a normal school. And not in a good way. 

\---

When the end of the day arrived, Kun spotted a boy pulling the striped school tie off of the handle to his and Jaehyun’s dorm room. The boy’s face wasn’t exactly visible, but considering what the tie on the doorknob means he really didn’t want to know. 

Kun had finally entered his room, finding a slightly disheveled Jaehyun shaking out his collar and ruffling his hair. Upon the squeak and rattle of the door, Jaehyun spun around and melted into a blushing mess.

“I’m so sorry, dude. Don’t mind me: too used to living alone.” The younger boy chuckled, rubbing at his neck.

Shaking his head, Kun raised his hands and jumped onto his bed, “Don’t worry, I get it. What was your day like?”

“Not really sure, I spend half the day on the soccer field to be honest. The rest is just a blur from there - bio, calculus, all that.” Jaehyun sat opposite Kun and rested his cheek on his palm. 

“Say, Jae, do you happen to know why everyone’s so weird to Ten Lee? Black hair, big binder?” Kun asked after a moment of silence, the tick of their clock slicing through the quiet. When the older looked up, he saw Jaehyun shiver and go blank like he did that morning.

“Do you not know about the Ravenwood Nine?” Kun shook his head no.

“Recently, kids have been going missing from the higher intelligence classes, specifically ten kids as of now. First signs are that they start to change as a person, then they just go missing from Ravenwood. No trace of them left at all. Sometimes, after a few days, they come back, but they never come back alive.” Jaehyun looked down the entire time as he explained with a shaky voice. Kun furrowed his brows at the mannerism.

“Jesus christ.” Kun sighed.

“Yeah. Johnny Suh went missing last week. He was on the basketball team with Yukhei. He used to be really outgoing and happy and then after a few days he was just… miserable. Then just last week he went missing without a trace; no evidence, nothing of his left in his dorm. But the thing is, he didn’t leave the academy, he’s still on the school database and has been for days on end. He’s just...missing.”

The older boy shuffled on his bed with discomfort, “Oh… but, how does this have anything to do with Ten?”

“Well,” Jaehyun sighed, “Ten isn’t exactly considered normal around here. He always seems like he’s not there, y’know? Weird obsessions with mystery novels and knows way too much about true crime. It all adds up in a way. Most people here think he’s behind the Ravenwood Nine. He’s just so suspicious, so weird. Always has been.”

The story didn’t add up to Kun. If Agatha Christie and Gilliam Flynn were here right now, they’d be begging for him to investigate this despite the potential consequences.

That night, Kun stayed away in his bed, staring at the ceiling as Jaehyun slept soundly. The moon glimmered though to his window, glowing through the curtains. Questions were racing through his brain a mile a minute. Where were the Ravenwood Nine? Who’s behind it? Who’s next? 

Someone had to find out. And he decided that someone would be Kun. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading ! 
> 
> [My Twitter](https://twitter.com/10VELYCOR3) and My CC


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